Guidance on your path to gluten free living.

Archive for May, 2011

WOW! I didn’t mean for the cliff hanger in Unmasking the Gluten “Villi-an” Part 1 to be more than two years long! I hope you weren’t kept waiting while it took so long to ambush the rest of the “Villi-ans!” But thanks for coming back to visit my blog, dear World. I will try to write more often than once every two years from now on!

There are some doctors who believe that this masked villain, gluten, is what drives about 1/3 of mankind’s chronic illness. It turns out that the “villi-an” gluten has its accomplices, so how much illness does that add up to? I promised in Part 1 of this article (so scroll down and read that part first) that you might be surprised at who and what they are. Well, I have captured them and am ready to expose their sinister faces. The line up is ready. Who are the other “villi-ans?” What other infamous (more than famous) foods can destroy the intestinal lining and wreak havoc with our health? I am so sorry to say they are some of your closest friends. I am truly sorrowful about their betrayal.

Are you ready? Are you sure you want to be healthy? Do you really want to know the rest of the story? Are you ready for gluten free 401? I am vacillating at this moment. I fear I am going to be labeled a bread bashing, grain trashing, squirrel of a health nut. Also, I am “sensitive” to the fact that you have been through a lot just dealing with the gluten thing. Maybe ignorance is bliss. Yes, it IS bliss. Forget it. I cannot go through with this. But wait, maybe health is better than bliss. Maybe health is bliss. I want to sleep tonight so I must expose the “villi-an” accomplices. My conscience is strong and the truth must prevail, so here they are:

Milk and corn and soy. Sorry. That’s it folks. They also possess the ability to destroy intestinal villi. They are the gluten accomplices. Sorry for the bad news.

It turns out that we, those of us who eat SAD (Standard American Diet), have lost our God given instinct to consistently eat a healthy diet. The Asians brought us soy, but they realized the need to ferment it to make it safer and then only ate it in limited amounts. Now, we drink it straight up. Soy as we know it and use it, is a problem. In a study by Perkkio, at Children’s Hospital, Helsinki (1981) villous atrophy was shown by jejunal biopsy of patients allergic to soy. Folks, you do not want your villi to atrophy, shrivel, wilt, or disappear. You want them to be like a thick, high pile towel that absorbs every drop of nutrition. The duodenum and jejunem are responsible for the absorption of a vast majority of calcium, iron, iodine, trace minerals, B complex and vitamin C. There are other reasons to avoid soy. One of them being the phytoestrogens that mimic our own estrogen. It is reported that feeding infants soy formula is equivalent to dosing them with five birth control pills worth of estrogen daily.

Then there is milk (casein.) We would be fine if we had stuck with goat’s milk since it is mostly devoid of casein, but some bloke took notice of a cow’s udder and had the brilliant idea that bigger is better. Cow’s milk can cause an enteropathy similar to celiac disease. It is called Bovine Beta Casein Enteropathy. It acts very much like celiac disease causing inflammation and an antibody reaction in the intestine which flattens intestinal villi making them unable to absorb those important nutrients. It might be the case(in) that feeding grains to dairy cows, instead of grass, increases the problem. And to complicate matters further, there are certain breeds of cows that produce healthier milk for people. Add to that the perils of pasteurization and homogenation which is a different and lengthy topic. ( It could very well be that raw milk from a monitored herd is actually healthy for us.) Got milked?

And finally corn. Corn, like modern wheat, is a cultigen, no longer at all like the early variety grown in Middle America. Ever heard of pellagra? It seems that corn can cause celiac like lesions in the intestine causing malabsorption of B vitamins. In addition, it has the wonderful attribute of making muscles fat. “Corn fed people” is not healthy.

Gluten grains, milk casein, soy, and corn all have common characteristics. All of them can destroy intestinal villi. They are “villi-ans.” Gluten and casein form a glue in the gut that coats the intestinal lining and prevents absorption of vital nutrients. But the worst scenario is if your immune system launches an immune response to the glue and destroys the intestinal lining and your villi in the process. This leads to leaky gut syndrome, so not only are you not absorbing your food, toxic peptides and other toxins are allowed to cross into the blood stream causing inflammation and immune reactions in far away places. The blood brain barrier can be crossed also, causing immune reactions, inflammation, and exposure to the opioid content of grains and milk in your brain. Gluten grains and milk casein have strong opioid components that can cause neurological damage. (gliadomorphins and casomorphins) Gluten grains and milk casein are diabetogenic. All four of this gang of ne’er do wells have harmful lectins that cause inflammation and tissue damage just by being in contact with organ tissue, especially the gut. I call this villain, “Hannabal Lectins.” The subject of lectins in foods is worthy of a lengthy and eye opening blog that will be coming soon, hopefully in less than two years time. The discussions on gluten are not complete without knowing about lectins. Be forewarned!

There are a few other elements in our diet that make matters worse. At the top of the list is sugar. I think we instinctively know that refined sugar in the diet is not good for us or our pets, but it is ubiquitous and highly addictive, and most people eat it all the time. High sugar intake makes every condition worse. It is the Godfather of villains. I encourage you to think of it as a toxin, because it IS one. And forget high fructose corn syrup, too, unless you want a fatty liver. Check out Dr. Robert Lustig’s video on youtube: Sugar: The Bitter Truth. You must know that the truth does set you free.

Nutritionists have the annoying habit of spoiling the good times for everyone. These food police exist because somewhere along the way we have gotten the idea that we can eat anything we want, whenever we want, and as much as we want, yet we would not consider feeding our dog that way. Some hardy individuals may seem to get away with it, however, I can assure you that there is a slow death going on. Someone once said that healthy people are really sick people who don’t know it yet. Wrong diet choices equals slow death syndrome.

The looming question is, “Why are these foods so common in our diets?” 75% of our calories come from these four foods. Why do they travel together in a pack and why do we crave these foods? Is this some kind of food corporation conspiracy backed by greed? Hmmmm?

We have been going the wrong way for a long time and the road back to health will not be easy. What is the price we are willing to pay to find our way back? If we took out all the processed health defying foods from the grocery store, we would have a little Ma and Pa corner grocery store once again, although maybe that is where we are headed for other reasons, too.

What is the problem here? We should have the instinct to choose what foods are good for us. Come to think of it, maybe the villain is US! And yes, let’s have a heart to heart about what foods ARE good for us…….sometime in the future. But don’t hang onto this cliff!